


Fields of Saguenay

by segerge



Series: TASK FORCE [31]
Category: HERO Champions
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-25
Updated: 2016-02-25
Packaged: 2018-05-23 02:29:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6101772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/segerge/pseuds/segerge
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(May 1996) Baron Nihil kidnaps Ladyhawk and Starforce's children, forcing Starforce and Biomaster into a perilous quest through the Multiverse to save them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fields of Saguenay

**Author's Note:**

> **warnings** : Nazis, language, child abduction
> 
> * * *
> 
> #### DRAMATIS PERSONAE
> 
> **heroes**
> 
>   * Julie Dormyer Hawkins (AKA Ladyhawk), Chairman of the Board of Directors for ProStar, disgustingly-powerful ninja with latent powers of temporal visualization
>   * Dr. Bob Hawkins (AKA Starforce), Senior Research Scientist for ProStar, disgustingly-powerful power-armor wearer/gadgeteer
>   * Dr. Matt Fuseli (AKA Biomaster), disgustingly-powerful neurokinetic manipulator and reformed supervillain
>   * Rev. David Kayami, disgustingly-powerful Navajo-themed supermage/cleric
>   * MGEN Theodore Jameson, Jr. (AKA Ranger), Director of PRIMUS
> 

> 
> **villains**
> 
>   * Baron Nihil, leader of the pocket dimension of Saguenay, pan-dimensional Nazi refugee from World War II
>   * Klaus Sachs (AKA Panzer), power-armor wearer and neo-Nazi terrorist
>   * Francois Rochemont, leader of UNTIL Special Operations Detachment (DFW)
> 

> 
> **other**
> 
>   * Teresa Rendon, Deputy Constable, Denton County Precinct 2
>   * Shina Arikawa, butler/chauffer/bodyguard for Julie Dormyer Hawkins (her 'Alfred')
>   * Walda, ex-prince of Saguenay and fugitive from justice
>   * Nathan Hawkins, son of Bob and Julie
>   * Laura Hawkins, daughter of Bob and Julie
>   * Tim Corwin, squad leader for PRIMUS assigned to the DFW office
>   * Peter Mackenzie, Director of North American Operations for UNTIL
> 

> 
> **AUTHOR'S NOTE 1** : Telepathy is denoted by (( )), internal monologue by [[ ]]
> 
>  **AUTHOR'S NOTE 2** : Nathan is 30 months old, Laura is 17 months.
> 
> * * *

(Bob Hawkins' Lab, ProStar, Plano TX. Lunch hour. The sign on the door reads 'Biological Experimentation in Progress')

(Julie 'Ladyhawk' Hawkins clears her throat after letting herself in)

 **Starforce** (looking up from his workstation displays, absently): "Huh?"

(Julie holds up a bag from Asia Palace, jiggles it, and smiles)

 **Starforce** : "Lunch hour already, Ninjette? We just got to work!"

 **Ladyhawk** : "Four hours ago."

 **Starforce** (beat): "Dang. That was one DEEP hacker's trance..."

 **Ladyhawk** : "Then you needed to take a break anyway." (looking over his shoulder at his workstations) "Holographic programming?"

 **Starforce** (getting up and stretching): "Trying to get Perl 5 to compile on a holographic processor."

 **Ladyhawk** (sultry, walking over to Bob): "Why?"

 **Starforce** (smiling while taking hold of Julie): "Because I can?"

(the kiss he starts becomes passionate enough that she is forced to put their lunch down on an adjacent lab bench. He starts unbuttoning her blouse)

 **Ladyhawk** (smiling): "Nerd-boy? Our lunch is going to get cold!"

 **Starforce** (pulling her blouse off): "That's why God created microwave ovens, isn't it?"

(Julie's giggle is muffled by the continuing kiss as she starts unfastening his belt. The phone on his desk starts ringing as he starts to work on her bra)

 **Ladyhawk** (sultry): "Let it go to voicemail."

(of course, Bob makes the mistake of looking at his phone. He recognizes the number on the Caller ID)

 **Starforce** : "That's the number for the Little Elm PD! What the hell?"

 **Ladyhawk** (releasing Bob): "Huh?"

 **Starforce** (answering phone): "Hawkins." (beat) "This is he." (long pause) "WHAT?"

(he grabs a mechanical pencil and starts scribbling on a pad of engineering paper. Julie makes out 'KIDS' and 'SHINA HURT', and gasps)

 **Starforce** (continuing, into phone): "She's with me right now, we were doing lunch..." (beat) "We'll be there in 15, thank you officer!"

(he hangs up and turns to Julie, who is busy putting her blouse back on. His face is white as a sheet, and he gulps nervously)

 **Starforce** : "There's been an attack at the Manor. Shina's hurt bad."

 **Ladyhawk** : "Nathan? Laura? WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN?"

 **Starforce** (beat): "They've been kidnapped."

* * *

(Stately Dormyer Manor Mark II, Lakewood Village, TX. 15 minutes later)

(with a squeal of tires, Bob's Corvette screams up the driveway and drift-parks perfectly between a police cruiser and an ambulance. Bob shoots out of the passenger side at a dead run, with Julie leaving from the drivers' side and slide-vaulting over the trunk. A policewoman meets them in the entrance to the Manor)

 **Policewoman** (flashing badge): "Mr. and Mrs. Hawkins? Deputy Constable Rendon, Denton County Precinct 2."

 **Starforce** : "Who did this?"

 **Rendon** : "We currently believe it was the supervillain Panzer. He was sighted flying west across Lake Lewisville just south of the Toll Bridge at roughly the time the 911 call was received."

 **Ladyhawk** : "At least Shina was able to call 911..."

 **Rendon** : "Ma'am, we're not sure WHO called. When the dispatcher took the call, all he heard was meowing at the other end."

 **Starforce** : "MERLYN?"

 **Rendon** (trying to keep up with them as they head for the door): "Dispatch sent both police and EMTs. The EMT's arrived first, reported the front door open, and found Ms. Arikawa unconscious and bleeding next to a phone, a Desert Eagle, a broken samurai sword, and a large black cat alternating between meowing into the phone and licking her face." (beat) "You have two children, correct?"

 **Starforce** : "Had."

 **Rendon** : "They were not present when we arrived. Several eyewitness sightings of Panzer reported he seemed to be carrying one or more small children with him."

(they are now all in the foyer. Shina is lying on her back in the entrance to the Great Room, with several EMT's clustered around her. Merlyn runs toward Bob and meows repeatedly)

 **Ladyhawk** : "How's Shina?"

 **EMT** : "She lost blood, but we have her stabilized."

 **Starforce** (looking at Shina as he picks up Merlyn): "Laser fire?"

 **EMT** : "The wounds would have self-cauterized. We're looking at high-end blaster fire, just from visual observation."

 **Rendon** : "The detectives just got done kitting her when you arrived. We'll know for certain tomorrow."

 **Starforce** : "Our children are GONE. We don't have that much time!"

 **Ladyhawk** (indicating the tableau): "The rest of the crime scene?"

 **Rendon** : "The Desert Eagle's magazine is expended. She didn't go down without a fight."

 **Starforce** (murmuring to himself): "If it's Panzer, that cold-fusion battery of his leaves a VERY distinct energy trace and scans positive for Palladium..."

 **Rendon** : "Sir, you need to let the authorities handle this..."

 **Starforce** : "With WHAT? Dude bounced 9 rounds from a DESERT EAGLE! What in GOD'S name makes you think your pop-guns are going to have any effect on him?"

(he runs off to the library, still carrying Merlyn)

 **Ladyhawk** : "Nerd-boy! WAIT!!"

(Bob skids to a stop just inside the library)

 **Ladyhawk** (running up next to him): "We may not have time for you to come back for me! Take me with you!"

 **Starforce** (beat): "Good point."

(he lets Merlyn down onto the ground)

 **Ladyhawk** (to Constable Rendon): "You did not see what you are about to see."

(she slams the doors to the library shut. Rendon looks at the doors strangely, then steps out of the way as the gurney with Shina strapped to it is wheeled out of the Manor)

 **Rendon** (to the other policemen): "Okay, guys. Clean up here and take it back to the precinct. I'll stay here as an official presence for the duration of the situation involving their childr..."

(she registers a bright flash out of the right corner of her eye. Turning, she sees a shooting star accelerating straight up into the sky from behind the garage, then curving off to the west. There is a sharp BOOM! as it pops the sound barrier)

 **Rendon** : "And get the local PRIMUS office on the horn. I think we're going to need them before this is over."

* * *

(SR 183 westbound, Irving, TX. Simultaneously with previous scene)

(Reverend David Kayami is cruising on his Harley with lunch hour traffic)

 **David** (internal monologue): [[pick up 287 north of Fort Worth, should be in Wichita Falls in a couple of hours. Should be back in the Navajo Nation tomorrow night if there aren't any problems...]]

(right on cue, his Danger Sense pulses)

 **David** (internal monologue): [[you think I'd learn after nearly two centuries... Now where can I pull off and see what's triggering it?]]

(he's about a quarter-mile from the next exit westbound)

 **David** (internal monologue): [[that'll do]]

(he's off the 183 expressway in short order and locates a convenience store. He pulls in, stops alongside the main building, and dismounts his bike before using his Variable Power Pool to step through enhanced senses)

 **David** (internal monologue): [[is that a dimensional incursion I'm sensing?]]

(he looks to the west and focuses)

 **David** (internal monologue): [[source is from out of this plane well away from the Parterres... destination appears to be in the vicinity of Fort Worth... doesn't seem to be QUITE magical]]

(if anything, his Danger Sense is getting more intense and insistent)

 **David** (internal monologue, continuing): [[and whatever's happening isn't good]]

(he gets back on his Harley, guns the motor, and begins to concentrate)

 **David** (internal monologue): [[let's see what's going on]]

(he drives around to the back of the convenience store just as a pinkish swirl of energy forms. He roars through it, and skids to a stop in a warehouse. A suit of crude, swastika-adorned armor has just handed two screaming toddlers to a tall, humanoid-looking swirl of blue and purple lightning wearing a Nazi SS uniform. David recognizes the suit of armor immediately)

 **David** : "PANZER?"

 **Panzer** : "Was nun?" /* What now? */

(David barely gets a forcewall erected in time before Panzer unloads with his laser rifle. Sickly purplish energies also slam into his forcewall from the humanoid's mouth while the toddlers in his grasp scream and cry)

 **David** (to the humanoid): "LET THE CHILDREN GO!"

 **Humanoid** (weird, distorted voice): "I think not, mein herr."

(there is a sharp BOOM! from outside just before the ceiling disintegrates. A shooting star drops straight down from its remains before spinning just above the warehouse floor and throwing what appears to be a dark-clad female feet-first at Panzer)

(Ladyhawk 18d6 Move-through does 28 STUN to Panzer, CON-stunning him. His forcefield flickers off just as he hits a shipping crate a few meters behind him, and the knockback damage knocks him out. Ladyhawk bounces the move-through damage she's supposed to take and lands in a three-point stance, looking back over her shoulder at Panzer's now-unconscious form)

(the shooting star can now be seen to be Starforce. He desperately reaches out to the humanoid with 120 STR TK as it and the children start to fade)

 **Humanoid** (laughing, voice fading with its body): "Farewell, Dr. Hawkins! Catch me if you can..."

 **Starforce** : "NIHIL!!"

(it's too late. Baron Nihil and the Hawkins children are gone, leaving behind a rapidly-fading swirl of bluish-pink energy)

 **David** (urgently): "Dr. Hawkins! Keep your telekinesis on that energy swirl! It's the only way I'll be able to track him!"

 **Ladyhawk** (standing up): "Reverend Kayami? What are YOU doing here?"

 **David** : "I was in the area, Miss Dormyer, and sensed the dimensional incursion. I was told to investigate."

 **Ladyhawk** : "It's... Mrs. Hawkins now, sir."

(David looks at her, then at Starforce)

 **David** : "About time."

 **Starforce** : "Could you hurry and force the portal back open, sir? Those were OUR children Baron Nihil just kidnapped!"

(David looks like he is about to do just that, until he does a double-take and looks at Ladyhawk's body intently)

 **David** (abruptly): "Where do you think you're going, Mrs. Hawkins?"

 **Ladyhawk** : "To rescue my children. Duh."

 **David** : "What about your other children?"

 **Ladyhawk** : "What?"

 **David** (confused): "You mean, you don't know?"

 **Ladyhawk** (equally confused): "Know what?"

 **David** : "You're carrying twins."

(shocked pause)

 **Starforce** (looking at Ladyhawk, small voice while keeping the remnants of Nihil's portal open): "Twins?"

 **David** : "A boy and a girl, if I'm not mistaken." (beat, concentrates) "Conception appears to have been less than a month ago."

 **Ladyhawk** : "I was feeling a little queasy, but I thought that was because of what's been happening..."

 **Starforce** (eyes wide): "You also missed your period last week, too."

(she leans over Starforce's arms and kisses him)

 **Ladyhawk** : "I'll see if Matt's available. Bring our children back, Bob."

 **Starforce** : "I will."

 **David** (to Ladyhawk): "Hands on my bike, if you would please?"

(she stands on the other side of the bike from David and does so)

(zzzzzZZZZZAP!!)

* * *

(Abandoned Warehouse, Fort Worth, TX. Two minutes later)

(Starforce keeps the slowly fading remnants of Nihil's portal open with his TK)

 **Starforce** (murmured): "Any time, guys..."

(zzzzzZZZZZAP!!)

(David reappears with Matt 'Biomaster' Fuseli, who is already wearing his preferred outfit from his adventuring days)

 **Biomaster** : "Panzer was working for Baron Nihil?"

 **Starforce** : "Saw him handing Nathan and Laura to Nihil as Julie and I arrived. I was half a second too late to stop him."

(while they're talking, David has been looking intently at the remnant distortion Nihil left behind and Starforce has been stabilizing)

 **Biomaster** : "Where do you and Julia know Reverend Kayami?"

 **Starforce** : "Friend of Kent's back in the day. He saved my life after Indianapolis." (beat) "He just happened to be in the area today when Nihil arrived for the hand-off." /* "Heart of Darkness" */

 **David** : "Okay Dr. Hawkins, you can drop your telekinesis now."

 **Starforce** (cutting his TK): "You have what you need?"

 **David** : "Yes."

 **Biomaster** : "Then let's get this show on the road, shall we?"

* * *

(Somewhere in the dimension of Saguenay. Night-time)

(a pinkish-white swirl of light begins to grow and spin, fluctuating randomly in size and luminescence for a moment before it expands and opens into a portal. Starforce, Biomaster, and David step through before the portal collapses)

 **Starforce** (dispassionately, reading from his mask displays): "Gravity's about normal... Air is breathable. Some pollutants, but no worse than say, the American Midwest."

(David looks up. A bluish-pink aurora dances almost continuously overhead)

 **David** : "There is an aurora, yet the air is temperate."

(Biomaster looks at their immediate surroundings)

 **Biomaster** : "We seem to be in an abandoned camp of some sort."

 **Starforce** (stopping his sensor sweep to look around at their immediate surroundings): "Someone sure forgot to pay the rent and utilities."

 **Biomaster** : "Why didn't we emerge where Baron Nihil did?"

 **David** : "Dimensional navigation is very tricky, even when the home and destination dimensions are close together." (beat) "Earth's dimension and this one are far apart, this dimension is very small, it's rotating along spatial axes that we normally cannot perceive, and every dimension... jiggles, for lack of a better term... if you could perceive it from the Astral Plane like I can."

 **Biomaster** : "Oh, like brownian motion?"

 **Starforce** (to Biomaster): "Took the words out of my mouth."

 **David** : "We should count ourselves blessed that we even *found* it."

(beat, while they look around)

 **David** (continuing, Danger Sense firing): "We need to get out of here. Now."

 **Starforce** (pointing): "The closest edge of these ruins is that way."

 **David** : "Let's go."

(they rapidly find themselves on the broken pavement of what appears to have been a main street of some sort. Looking to their left, they see a massive iron gate between themselves and the outside world roughly a block away. The gothic-looking letters above the gate are reversed from their current perspective)

 **Biomaster** : "Is that... German?"

(Starforce's face hardens. He's not only translated it, he's pulled up the correct historical reference from Earth history)

 **Starforce** : "Yes."

 **Biomaster** (reading the sign backwards and flipping it in his head correctly): "Arbeit... Macht... Frei..." (beat) "Where have I seen that before?"

 **Starforce** (grimly): "In historical photos of Auschwitz."

(motion suddenly registers out of the corners of all their eyes. Ghastly, translucent humanoid shapes fade into view, stepping out of the ruined buildings or in some cases climbing out of the very ground itself)

(Starforce, Biomaster, and David find themselves back-to-back-to-back facing the increasing horde of spectres now surrounding them on all sides)

 **David** : "Did I mention the extra-dimensional rotation has weakened the barriers between the worlds of the living and the dead?"

 **Starforce** (lighting his forcefield, forcebeams warming up for discharge): "Do tell!"

 **Biomaster** : "I'm not sure my powers will have any effect on them..."

 **David** (planting his walking stick and glowing with power): "Mine will."

(David, his VPP set to +60 PRE, now attempts to turn the undead with a PRE attack)

 **David** (flaring with power): "BY THE WORD AND POWER OF GOD I COMMAND YOU TO LET US THROUGH!!"

(18d6 PRE attack scores only PRE+20 on the growing horde of ghosts around them. They stop and sway)

 **Starforce** (arms raised, ready to attack): "Now, Reverend?"

 **David** : "Not yet." (beat) "Everyone, let's try to move toward the main gate."

(they do as David suggests. The encircling horde of ghosts follows them, keeping their distance)

 **Biomaster** : "Why can't we just teleport out?"

 **David** : "Remember me talking about how this entire dimension is rotating around spatial axes we can't perceive?"

 **Starforce** : "Yes..."

 **David** : "I COULD teleport, but with the way space and time are curved and moving in this dimension we could easily end up rematerializing inside solid rock. Or worse."

(a spectre lunges at Biomaster, but stops and hisses when David glares at it)

 **David** (continuing): "If I had a few hours to practice, I could compensate for it..."

 **Biomaster** : "Right now, I'm not sure we even have a few MINUTES!"

(more ghosts are now crowding into the road between the heroes and the main gate)

 **Starforce** : "NOW, Reverend?"

(headlights suddenly appear, bouncing out of the forest on the other side of the gate. There is the scream of an engine at high RPM, a crash of metal on metal, and a beat-up SUV-type vehicle bounces through the ghosts and skids to a halt next to our heroes. A heroically-built man with unkempt blond hair and a beard throws the passenger-side door open)

 **Heroic Man** : "Reinkommen!!" /* Get in! */

 **Starforce** (screaming as he levitates and interposes himself between the ghosts and the SUV): "HE SAID GET IN!"

(without waiting for approval, Starforce sweeps the horde of ghosts with 60 STR TK affects desolidified. Their angry growl becomes a keening wail as David and Biomaster scramble on board the vehicle)

 **Starforce** (to the driver): "Ich folge kann! GO!!" /* I can follow! */

(The driver guns the motor, and the SUV leaps for freedom. Starforce follows immediately behind, flying backwards and continuing to hose the ghosts down with his TK)

* * *

(abandoned village, half a mile from the haunted concentration camp. Five minutes later)

(the Heroic-looking man leads David, Starforce, and Biomaster into a deserted house)

 **David** (to Starforce): "Could you tell our friend that I need to make him speak our language?"

 **Starforce** : "My German's THAT bad?"

 **David** : "I have no way of telling."

(Starforce chuckles and turns to their rescuer)

 **Starforce** : "Unser heiliger Mann braucht, um Ihren Geist zu berühren, so dass Sie für uns alle sprechen." /* Our holy man needs to touch your mind so you can speak to all of us */

 **Heroic Man** : "Sagen Sie ihm, um fortzufahren." /* Tell him to proceed */

 **Starforce** (to David): "Go ahead."

(holding his walking stick in his left hand, David reaches out with his right hand and gently touches the man's head. There is a glow of power)

 **Heroic Man** : "That was... interesting!"

 **David** : "Do you have a name, sir?"

 **Heroic Man** : "In my youth, I was called Walda, prince of Saguenay." (beat) "Now, I am but a fugitive with no name."

 **Biomaster** : "Are we safe here?"

 **Walda** : "After what I rescued you from, would you come anywhere NEAR the old extermination camp?"

 **Biomaster** : "Good point."

 **Walda** : "This village used to house the families of those who staffed the camp. It's been abandoned since the last inmate was killed over two decades ago."

 **Starforce** (beat): "A world where the Final Solution was carried out in full? Oh, my God."

 **Walda** (eyes widening): "The Final Solution. That's what Baron Nihil called his extermination program..."

(his energy saber is out and ignited in a single, fluid motion)

 **Walda** (angry): "You come from beyond the Veil! Just like Nihil did!"

 **David** : "We come from the world that gave birth to Baron Nihil. We mean neither you nor your people any harm."

(shocked pause, then Walda deactivates his energy saber)

 **Walda** : "You wish to capture him and take him back with you?"

 **Biomaster** : "We seek justice for his crimes."

 **Starforce** : "Extradition implies that he is still alive after that's accomplished."

 **Walda** (amazed): "What has he done to your world that could possibly be any worse than what he's done to mine?"

 **Starforce** : "Where would you like us to start?"

(beat)

 **David** : "Half a century ago, our entire world was consumed in war. A war the likes of which has never been seen in Saguenay's history." (beat) "Baron Nihil's people were on the losing side."

 **Walda** : "So he escaped to our world, then, rather than face the consequences of his people's treason in your world?"

 **Starforce** : "Not exactly."

(Walda looks at Starforce)

 **Starforce** (continuing): "I am specifically responsible for his departure from our world 52 years ago." (beat) "Given the circumstances under which it happened, I assumed at the time that I had killed him."

(Biomaster looks at Starforce in amazement)

 **Biomaster** (internal monologue): [[now THERE is a story I'd like to hear someday]]

 **Walda** : "So you're now here to correct that mistake?"

 **Starforce** : "I'm here because he kidnapped my children."

(tense pause)

 **Walda** : "Yet you still expect MY help? You, who care so little about the fate of my people?"

 **Biomaster** (angry): "Sir, that ship sailed when you came to our rescue in the extermination camp! It's a little late to be expressing righteous indignation about the reasons behind our mission!"

 **David** : "You would prefer we NOT be honest and forthright with you?"

(Walda slumps down into a chair and sighs)

 **Biomaster** : "You'd be more believable if you were actually commanding a resistance movement against Nihil instead of whining in the dark like some Generation X wannabe..."

(Walda springs back up out of his chair and grabs Biomaster's lab coat)

 **Walda** (angry): "Have a care, stranger! I still hold your fate in my hands."

 **Biomaster** : "You still have fire. That's good. Now channel it against your REAL enemies and not your guests."

(Walda lets him go. Starforce releases the breath he had unconsciously been holding)

 **Starforce** (internal monologue): [[DAMN, Matt...]]

 **David** : "What can you tell us about Nihil's time in Saguenay?"

 **Walda** : "Not much. I was a teenager on cadet maneuvers with the Gewittegarde when he crossed the Veil 32 years ago. Supposedly, he appeared in the Throne Room, vaporized my father, and took the Throne with hardly a word to anyone else present." (beat) "I've been on the run since that day."

 **Biomaster** : "You're the heir to the throne?"

 **Walda** : "My older brother Wulf is. He is both a Commander of the Gewittegarde and Nihil's favorite whipping boy whenever something goes wrong."

 **David** : "Where is Nihil's throne room?"

 **Walda** : "My father's old castle, Schloss Unbesiegbar. It's in the center of Welthauptstadt Saguenaia, several hours' drive north of us." (to Starforce) "Your children are likely to be there, if he is doing what I think he's doing and baiting a trap for you."

 **David** : "Can you get us a vehicle?"

 **Walda** : "I have contacts in the village to our west. They can get one for you."

 **David** : "When is local sunrise?"

(Walda looks confused for a moment, then figures out what David is asking)

 **Walda** : "The veil turns in 8 hours. I can have all of you there before then."

 **David** : "Thank you." (to Starforce and Biomaster) "Get some rest. I'll use that time to re-calibrate my teleporation for Saguenay's... issues, and I'll wake both of you up in six hours."

 **Starforce** : "Nihil still has my children."

 **David** : "Walda is right about how Nihil is using them, Dr. Hawkins. He won't do anything to them *until* you're present and watching."

(tense pause)

 **Starforce** (angry and frightened): "I hope you're right."

* * *

(Stately Dormyer Manor Mark II, an hour later)

(Julie walks into the Great Room with a box of pizza. Constable Rendon has been looking at the engagement announcement photo of Bob and Julie silhouetted in front of the galactic core)

 **Ladyhawk** (putting the box on the coffee table): "Dinner!"

 **Rendon** (turning around): "Oh, thank you, Mrs. Hawkins!"

(Merlyn suddenly appears. Balancing on his back paws next to where Constable Rendon has just sat down, he reaches up for the pizza box and attempts to open it)

 **Ladyhawk** : "Merlyn? Wait your turn!"

(he meows at her and sits back down. Rendon laughs)

 **Ladyhawk** (sitting down): "I apologize for the dinner selection, Constable. Shina has been doing my cooking for over a decade, and I'm afraid that I'm a much better ninja than I am a chef."

 **Rendon** (chuckling as she opens the box and liberates a slice): "If your cat doesn't mind, I don't either."

 **Ladyhawk** (getting her slice): "This is probably going to sound sexist, but do you have any idea how embarrassing it is when your HUSBAND is a better cook than you are?"

 **Rendon** : "Not yet. Does yours have a specialty?"

 **Ladyhawk** : "His chili. I should get him to make some for your precinct sometime."

 **Rendon** : "Is it that good?"

 **Ladyhawk** : "Two thumbs up!" (beat) "Before the screaming starts."

 **Rendon** (smiling): "Good. I like my chili spicy."

 **Ladyhawk** : "Be very careful what you ask. He's got a pretty heavy hand on the spices..."

(her Danger Sense suddenly fires. Rendon registers both the sudden break in their conversation and the change in posture)

 **Rendon** : "What's wrong?"

 **Ladyhawk** (grabbing her katana from the sofa next to her): "Trouble. Out front."

(she springs to her feet and hurries off to the front door, with Rendon trailing. Free from the human's limitations, Merlyn jumps up onto the coffee table and starts helping himself)

 **Ladyhawk** (continuing): "Right... about..."

(the doorbell rings, followed by firm and insistent knocking)

 **Rendon** : "Now?"

(Julie and Constable Rendon make eye contact. Rendon places her hand on her holster. Julie places her left hand on the door knob, holds her katana ready with her right, and silently mouths '3, 2, 1...')

(Julie flings the door open and extends her katana. It rests lightly on the throat of UNTIL Captain Francois Rochemont's armor. A full squad of UNTIL agents stand behind him, weapons ready)

 **Rochemont** : "Mademoiselle Hawkins, is this how you greet *everyone* who knocks at your door?"

 **Ladyhawk** (fake smile): "Francois Rochemont, my *least* favorite UNTIL agent!" (beat, snarling) "This had BETTER be about the abduction of my children."

 **Rochemont** : "I actually request and require the presence of your husband to address the reports that he has been sighted flying around in his battlesuit."

 **Rendon** (to Julie): "Don't answer that, Mrs. Hawkins." (to Rochemont) "Captain, you cannot coerce the appearance of an American citizen unless you have a warrant to do so. May I see it?"

 **Rochemont** : "I do not need to answer to local law enforcement when the safety of the whole world is on the line."

 **Rendon** : "The Martinez treaty says that you DO unless you can demonstrate probable cause, Captain." (beat) "Which, in my professional opinion as a law enforcement official, you have failed to do."

 **Rochemont** : "Then SHOW me the Son of Zerstoiten!"

 **Ladyhawk** (through clenched teeth): "He's busy right now."

 **Rendon** (into microphone on shoulder): "Dispatch, unit 24. I have a 10-31, 786 Stowe Lane in Lakewood Village. Suspects are UNTIL agents in combat gear. Request backup!"

 **Rochemont** (simultaneous with Rendon's radio call): "So you do not deny that he has donned his battlesuit again?"

 **Ladyhawk** : "What part of the phrase 'abduction of my children' are you NOT comprehending right now? He's trying to RESCUE them, you ass!"

 **Rochemont** (to Rendon): "You wanted probable cause, Constable? There it is!" (beat, hoists blaster rifle) "Now stand aside and let me in..."

(Rochemont is now staring down the barrel of Constable Rendon's service revolver as well as Julie's katana)

 **Radio** : "Unit 24, I have your last location at the crime scene. Are you still there?"

 **Rendon** : "Affirmative. I am helping the homeowner defend her property right now."

(tense pause)

 **Radio** : "Acknowledged. Little Elm units 10 and 18 are en-route, ETA 2 minutes. Denton County Tactical Response is mobilizing."

 **Rendon** : "10-4, Dispatch. Will keep you posted."

(she puts her left hand on the pistol grip to stabilize it now that she is done with the radio. In the distance police sirens can be heard, increasing in volume)

 **Ladyhawk** : "Wow, Captain. The only box you HAVEN'T checked yet this afternoon is the one for 'Diplomatic Incident'!" (beat, smiles ferally) "Care to rectify that oversight?"

 **Rochemont** : "Both of you will rot in prison next to Zerstoiten's son. This I promise."

 **Ladyhawk** : "You'll excuse me for not holding my breath in anticipation of that event, I hope?"

(tense pause, as the police sirens can now be heard coming down Stowe Lane)

* * *

(Autobahn A-15 Northbound, dawn)

(the bluish-pink aurora that has dominated Saguenay's night sky is slowly fading, being replaced by what seems to be a partly-cloudy mid-afternoon sky. Saguenay's sun appears to be behind a cloud as the day sky fades into existence. David is sleeping in the back seat seemingly hugging his walking stick, while Biomaster is up front riding shotgun with Starforce)

 **Starforce** (muttering): "On the first day of my summer vacation, I drove through Nazi Disneyland..."

 **Biomaster** (looking out of the car at the sky): "That is SO freaky."

 **Starforce** : "Remember what Reverend Kayami said. The whole dimension rotates around a different spatial axis that we can't normally perceive." (beat, points outside the car) "This is as best as our senses can render that rotation."

 **Biomaster** : "Have you ever been to another dimension before, Robert?"

 **Starforce** : "Nope. The closest TASK FORCE ever got was travelling through time in ours."

 **Biomaster** (beat): "Oh."

 **Starforce** : "By startling coincidence, that adventure was where we first met the person who would become Baron Nihil."

 **Biomaster** : "Tell me more."

 **Starforce** : "Okay. Just keep in mind that from certain reference frames the story I'm about to go through doesn't make causal sense."

 **Biomaster** : "Then stick to the order of events as you perceived them."

 **Starforce** : "Good enough." (beat) "About ten years ago, we got involved in the pursuit of a time-travelling Nazi wonder weapon our government had warehoused. Doctor Destroyer beat us to it, we attacked him, we lost, he strapped us around Die Glocke intending to use us as lab animals for his latest mods to it, and then that's when things started to get weird." /* "The Paradox of Doctor Destroyer" */

 **Biomaster** : "Only you could pull that last sentence off with a perfectly-straight face." (beat) "Define 'weird'."

 **Starforce** : "Two different versions of what we thought at the time was a future Doctor Destroyer showed up and had a disagreement between themselves. The resulting crossfire of Destroyer-beams activated Die Glocke, and the next thing we know we're all waking up just outside an RAF base in Eastern England around, uh, early September of 1944 as I recall." /* "Greatest Generation" */

(Starforce passes a slower truck in the right-hand lane before continuing)

 **Starforce** : "Eventually, Die Glocke further dragged us to a place called Der Riese, where it had originally been built."

 **Biomaster** : "Der Riese?"

 **Starforce** : "It was a super-secret Nazi research complex in what at the time was Lower Silesia, run by an SS nutcase by the name of Ernst von Niehl."

 **Biomaster** : "Well, we ARE talking the same era that originally spawned Doctor Destroyer, you know." (beat) "How nutty are we talking?"

 **Starforce** : "Three mecha, at least three platoons worth of blaster rifles, and a particularly-nasty bazooka with a warhead that could rotate all your atoms along multiple separate extra dimensions at the same time." 

**Biomaster** (in disbelief): "In 1944? OUR 1944?"

 **Starforce** : "Yes, Matt. *Our* 1944."

 **Biomaster** : "How did you guys beat all that?"

 **Starforce** : "Julie blew the lab up."

(shocked pause)

 **Biomaster** : "WHAT?"

 **Starforce** : "In her defense, it wasn't intentional and she had a LOT of help from both von Niehl and the mecha."

 **Biomaster** : "Ernst von Niehl..." (beat, rolls the name around his brain some more) "He's the guy who would become Baron Nihil?"

 **Starforce** : "Got it in one."

 **Biomaster** : "How did it happen?"

 **Starforce** : "After the fires were extinguished, I had Die Glocke set up as a portal and was sending the rest of TASK FORCE back to our era. I was the last person attempting to return when he grabbed me. We fought in the mouth of the portal between 1944 and 1986, I *may* have attempted to decapitate him with a pushed forcebeam, there was an explosion, and when I came to I was back in 1986 with no sign of von Niehl."

 **Biomaster** : "His end of the explosion must have catapulted him to Saguenay."

 **Starforce** : "Both Dr. Renton and I seriously wondered at the time if he COULD have survived it." (beat) "I wouldn't have minded to be wrong."

(Biomaster chuckles)

 **Starforce** : "Hey, how come this is all new to you, anyway? He's attacked me before..."

 **Biomaster** : "I was out of town when he took his last whack at you. Before Laura's birth, right?"

 **Starforce** : "Yeah."

(beat)

 **Biomaster** : "How much longer?"

 **Starforce** (looking at a passing mile marker): "If I can hold this speed, about an hour."

* * *

(Stately Dormyer Manor. 3 AM)

(Julie's Danger Sense is malfunctioning again while she sleeps)

 **Thelambra** (to Starforce): "Rochemont is around the corner and 60 meters to the right. He will probably be facing away from you."

(Starforce *looks* different, which probably has something to do with either the full-cover faceplate he now wears or the white hair on top of his helmet which she knows to be ridiculously fake)

 **Starforce** : "I can solve that."

(he flies rapidly around the corner, the glow of his forcefield fading from the assault team's sight)

 **Starforce** (faintly, from around the corner): "HEY! CHEESE-EATING SURRENDER MONKEY! I FART IN YOUR GENERAL DIRECTION!!"

(intense blaster fire can now be heard from around the corner, increasing in volume. Starforce finally flash-steps into existence at the corridor intersection)

 **Starforce** (speaking to someone still around the corner to the right): "My biological father was a better man than you'll ever be!"

(he flies toward the assault team's prepared ambush position at top speed. Rochemont in the War Armor flies around the corner after him in extremely hot pursuit)

 **Rendon** : "Mrs. Hawkins, wake up! We have a situation!"

(Julie sits up, katana already in her left hand. She blinks and looks around, confused. Her Danger Sense, for what it's worth, is now confirming Constable Rendon's report)

 **Ladyhawk** (still waking up): "This isn't Antarctica..."

 **Rendon** : "We need to get you to safety! UNTIL's rolling a Tactical Assault Unit down the Eldorado Parkway and they'll be here any..."

(something powered by ducted fans roars over Dormyer Manor, shortly replaced by the whine of a rotary cannon firing from overhead. Shocked pause)

 **Ladyhawk** : "They're either VERY poor shots, or the Manor wasn't the target!"

(she gets up and sprints out of the Master Suite)

 **Rendon** : "Ma'am! Your front lawn is a combat zone right now!"

(Julie tosses the katana into her right hand and flings the front door open. Two Drake-Victoria VTOLs in PRIMUS livery have an UNTIL-liveried wheeled APC transfixed in the glare of their spotlights. Both the lawn and driveway immediately in front of the UNTIL vehicle are chewed up. A third VTOL has just landed in front of the Garage, letting out a PRIMUS lieutenant and a squad of PRIMUS agents)

 **PRIMUS Agent** : "Ma'am, Constable? Tim Corwin, PRIMUS. I apologize for not getting here earlier."

(Captain Rochemont has now strode over to the meeting at the front door)

 **Rochemont** : "Lieutenant, this is an UNTIL op in progress. You and your men will STAND DOWN..."

(Lt. Corwin hauls off and slugs Rochemont. He drops, CON-stunned)

 **Corwin** : "I was spending a VERY enjoyable night with my girlfriend until your ANTICS forced me to leave her!"

(beat)

 **Rendon** (to Julie, pointing at Lt. Corwin): "I like him."

 **Ladyhawk** : "You heard him. He already has a girlfriend."

 **Rochemont** (still on the ground, rubbing his jaw): "You will pay for your insubordination with your CAREER, Lieutenant."

 **Corwin** : "Yeah, but until then it's still MY job to protect American citizens!" (beat, kneels next to Rochemont) "Now you listen very carefully to ME, buddy! Right now, I can escalate this incident far more quickly and violently than you can. All I need is for you to give me an excuse."

(Rochemont glares at him as he gets to his feet)

 **Corwin** (standing): "Your call, 'Captain'."

(still glaring, Rochemont returns to his agents. Lt. Corwin relaxes and turns to Julie and Constable Renton)

 **Corwin** (to Rendon): "Constable, are you in charge of the locals?"

 **Rendon** : "For the moment."

 **Corwin** : "Okay, here's what I need. You stay with Mrs. Hawkins, you're her bodyguard until we get this resolved. Pull your local deputies back and block off Stowe Lane at both ends. Is there someplace your county SWAT team could loiter that's about two minutes from here?"

 **Rendon** : "The government center on Highridge Drive." (beat, smiles) "Its parking lot should be available at this time of day."

 **Corwin** : "Good. They'll be my reserves just in case things still go pear-shaped."

 **Rendon** : "I'll get my people re-deployed."

(Constable Rendon walks off, talking into her shoulder mike)

 **Corwin** (to Julie): "Have you heard from your husband yet?"

 **Ladyhawk** (lowering her katana): "No. He's still in pursuit of Baron Nihil and our children."

 **Corwin** : "We'll keep you safe, ma'am, until he returns."

 **Ladyhawk** : "Thank you."

(she looks around Lt. Corwin at the chewed-up section of lawn and driveway)

 **Corwin** : "We'll pay for it, ma'am."

 **Ladyhawk** : "Why don't you send the bill to UNTIL, instead?"

(Lt. Corwin grins)

* * *

(Welthaupstadt Saguenaia. Mid-morning)

(Starforce, Biomaster, and David are on top of an apartment flat, looking across about a mile of parkland crawling with military and equipment. A castle straight out of a bad 1930's pulp serial occupies the top of a forbidding hill in the middle of the park)

(Starforce scans the troops and military equipment arrayed in the parkland. He then gets Biomaster's attention)

 **Starforce** : "Hey, Matt."

 **Biomaster** : "What?"

 **Starforce** (pointing at the castle): "Rock climbing."

(the reference is lost on Biomaster for only a moment. He hits Starforce when he gets it)

 **Biomaster** : "I don't know HOW Julia ever puts up with you..."

 **Starforce** (hurt): "That show's been our Saturday night date for over three years!" /* _Mystery Science Theater 3000_ */

 **David** : "Dr. Hawkins? A little more attention to the forces around the castle, please?"

 **Starforce** (muttered): "A simple 'Starforce, FOCUS' would have sufficed..."

 **Biomaster** : "The larger forms in front of his castle. What are they?"

(Starforce focuses a moment, then laughs)

 **Starforce** : "Remember what I told you about Der Riese on the drive over? Those are Nihil's mecha."

 **Biomaster** : "I thought you were pulling my leg when you told me that!" (beat, squints) "They look so CRUDE!"

 **Starforce** : "Count your blessings. That means they'll probably explode as easily today as they did half a century ago."

 **David** (beat): "You're speaking from personal experience, aren't you?"

 **Starforce** (grins): "Yup."

 **David** : "So where does that leave us with the Gewittegarde?"

 **Starforce** : "Let's put it this way. I haven't felt this good about a tactical situation since Amchitka."

(beat)

 **Biomaster** : "Wait a minute. You and Julia always described Amchitka as a complete clusterf..."

(Biomaster catches himself before he can complete the word and looks at David, embarrased to be swearing around a man of God)

 **David** : "Charlie-Foxtrot, Dr. Fuseli."

(awkward pause)

 **David** : "I was a Marine in World War II."

 **Starforce** : "To answer your question, Matt, you're correct. Like Amchitka, we're outnumbered, no hope for reinforcements, and in a must-engage scenario." (beat) "All we're missing is the crappy weather and earthquakes." /* "72 Hours" */

 **David** : "And the interdiction field."

(Starforce freezes)

 **Starforce** (slowly, to David): "What did you say?"

 **David** : "From all accounts that I have ever read about the Day of the Destroyer, Destroyer's base on Amchitka possessed an interdiction field which prevented the use of either psionics or teleportation." (beat, indicating the castle) "Schloss Unbesiegbar has no such protection around it."

(Starforce stares at the castle and rapidly shifts through spectral filters. Beat, then he facepalms)

 **Starforce** (to David): "Next time, sir, could you LEAD with that information so I don't have to go full Eeyore on everyone?"

 **Biomaster** : "Well then, why are we sitting around out here when we could be teleporting into Castle Frankenstein over there?"

 **David** : "Good point. Everyone, let's establish a mind-link before we port to the entrance. Dr. Hawkins, what did you used to call it when you would image a teleportation target for Reverend Christiansen?"

 **Starforce** : "Spotting the landing zone. I can do that."

 **David** : "I'll be needing it inside the castle. Let's get going."

(he starts concentrating. Starforce faces away from Biomaster and David)

 **Starforce** (to Biomaster): ((it's pronounced 'fronk-en-steen'...))

(zzzzzZZZZZAP!!)

* * *

(Schloss Unbesiegbar. One second later)

(zzzzzZZZZZAP!!)

(Starforce opens his mouth and clutches his belly in anticipation of what usually comes after being teleported. Nothing happens)

 **Starforce** (to David): "Why didn't I throw up? Teleportation is SUPPOSED to make me throw up!"

 **David** : "Starforce, FOCUS! We need to get into the castle!"

 **Starforce** : "Right."

(he looks at the enormous door in front of them)

 **Starforce** : "Anyone see a doorbell?"

 **Biomaster** : "STARFORCE!"

 **Starforce** (forcebeams building to discharge): "I try to add a little levity, a little spice to people's lives and *this* is the thanks I get..."

(60 STR area-effect TK takes the door completely off its hinges intact. Starforce now proceeds to sweep the length of the Entry Hall using the door as a plow, doing 20d6 [12d6 for TK + 8d6 for Move-through] to anyone like the platoon of Gewittegarde who happens to be in the way)

 **Biomaster** (running through the entrance): ((I believe you took out all the defenders of the first room. Impressive, Robert))

 **Starforce** (to David): ((where are my children?))

 **David** (following Biomaster): ((the highest tower of the castle))

 **Starforce** : ((naturally))

 **Biomaster** : ((please tell me we're not going to have to WALK our way there))

 **David** : ((any more teleportation we have to do is much shorter range, and Dr. Hawkins will be 'spotting the LZ' for us from now on))

 **Starforce** (looking deeper into the castle): ((more Gewittegarden inbound, guys. What's the quickest way to the tower?))

 **David** : ((the stairway starts on the 3rd floor))

 **Starforce** (looking up): ((got it))

(120 STR TK punches a hole straight up through the entire castle. Starforce accelerates vertically through it before the debris has finished cascading down to the ground floor)

 **Biomaster** (looking up): ((I think he's in a hurry))

* * *

(Stately Dormyer Manor Mark II. Morning)

(Julie opens the front door and looks at how the siege has developed overnight. Three PRIMUS VTOLs are scattered across the front lawn between the Manor and UNTIL's position, centered roughly on the driveway just past Dr. Fuseli's house. There is a continued argument between Lt. Corwin and Captain Rochemont by the UNTIL APC anchoring their position on the siege line)

 **Ladyhawk** (murmured): "UNTIL is SO gonna pay for the yard work..."

(Constable Rendon walks up with two large mugs that smell of coffee)

 **Rendon** : "I took the liberty of using the coffee maker in the kitchen. Here you go, Mrs. Hawkins."

 **Ladyhawk** (taking her mug): "Under the circumstances, I don't think either Shina or I mind. Thank you." (she sips her mug before continuing) "Shina always said that I was the only person she knew who could burn instant coffee, and Nerd-boy *refuses* to let me near any coffee maker after what happened on our honeymoon."

(they share a quick laugh)

 **Rendon** : "Any word from your husband?"

 **Ladyhawk** : "None. Saguenay could be *anywhere* in the Multiverse for all we know." (beat) "How about at this end?"

 **Rendon** (indicating Lt. Corwin's heated discussion with Rochemont): "UNTIL is now attempting to negotiate with PRIMUS for access to the Manor, which is going over about as well as you'd expect after the events of last night."

 **Ladyhawk** : "From prior experience, forethought isn't exactly Rochemont's strong suit."

 **Rendon** : "Denton County Sherriff and Little Elm PD are rotating every two hours on keeping Stowe Lane blocked off. We expect to have problems a little later because it's garbage day for Lakewood Village and we're going to have to let the trucks onto Stowe Lane sometime today."

 **Ladyhawk** : "You have a way of scanning them, don't you? I remember a trick VIPER pulled on TASK FORCE once hiding a Special Weapons team in a fake truck."

 **Rendon** : "We remembered it, too, and we have a way to scan for that."

 **Ladyhawk** : "Good. Not that I *expect* Rochemont to approach Clayton Stiles' level of tactical brilliance, but stranger things have happened."

 **Radio** : "Unit 24, this is Dispatch. Please respond."

 **Rendon** : "I've got to take this call, Ma'am."

(Julie nods, and Constable Rendon walks away, talking into her shoulder mike)

(There is an increased burst of activity around Captain Rochemont while Julie drinks her coffee. An UNTIL agent runs over to him amd appears to have a brief conversation with him. She sees a brief smile cross his face, then he motions for all his agents to form up and follow him before he walks to the front of the house. Lt. Corwin does the same with a squad of PRIMUS agents and follows)

 **Ladyhawk** : "Good God, what NOW?"

 **Rochemont** : "Mrs. Hawkins! Good morning!"

 **Ladyhawk** : "I thought I told you to get off my lawn."

 **Rochemont** : "Not with the fate of the world at stake. I grow tired of your games, girl. I want the Son of Zerstoiten, and I want him NOW!"

(Lt. Corwin and his squad have now caught up with the UNTIL squad. He nods, and with an echoing click the PRIMUS agents take their safeties off)

 **Corwin** : "Do I have your attention NOW, Rochemont?"

 **Rochemont** : "Stop bothering me, boy, and let the adults on the scene do their work."

 **Corwin** : "Is that what you call lying through your teeth over the last hour of our negotiations?"

 **Rochemont** : "I call it 'stalling for time.'"

(Julie's Danger Sense starts to pulse)

 **Rochemont** (continuing): "When my reinforcements finish crossing the Toll Bridge and get here in five minutes, boy, PRIMUS will no longer have a monopoly on the amount of violence it is capable of bringing to bear today."

(Rochemont turns to Julie)

 **Rochemont** : "I will only ask one more time. WHERE. IS. ZERSTOITEN'S. SON?!?"

* * *

(Schloss Unbesiegbar. 15 seconds after the end of the previous scene here)

(Four Gewittegarden are arrayed in front of the stairway to the observatory tower, their shields linked together to form a wall blocking the corridor. Four more have upended display cases in the wide hallway leading there to serve as cover)

(The door at the far end of the hallway explodes into splinters. Starforce can be seen briefly before he flash-steps the length of the Great Hall to a point *behind* the shield wall)

 **Starforce** : "You're looking the wrong way, guys."

(Starforce 10d6 Force Pulse does 15 STUN to all four shield-wall Gewittegarden as they turn around in shock. Each sidewall of the Great Hall gets in the way before any of them can do their full 19m of knockback, and each takes 17 more STUN before getting buried in stonemasonry)

(zzzzzZZZZZAP!!)

(David teleports in with Biomaster, who proceeds to hose the entire Great Hall down with a 10d6 END drain, putting all the Gewittegarden down to -47 END. Since each 2 END below 0 is a 1d6 NND STUN attack, all of them have just taken 84 STUN and won't wake up for a LONG time)

 **David** : ((the observatory is at the top of the stairs, Dr. Hawkins!))

 **Starforce** : ((any bad guys at the top?))

 **David** : ((I'm just sensing Nihil and your children))

 **Starforce** : ((finally))

(Starforce blurs and vanishes. A second later, David sees the picture of the top landing over the mind link)

 **David** (to Biomaster): "Here we go."

(zzzzzZZZZZAP!!)

(Starforce is in front of a massive steel door. His arms are raised, and his forcebeams are building to a pushed discharge)

 **David** (quickly using his magesense on the door): ((the door is a foot and a half of battleship-grade steel plating! Even YOU can't get through that in time!))

 **Starforce** : ((I'm not looking at the door))

(32d6 TK Offensive Strike annihilates all the wood and stonemasonry of Schloss Unbesiegbar's top-most tower that's at least six feet off the floor. Stones closer to the floor, absent the balance of forces from the rest of the structure, begin their long fall onto the rest of the castle below them all. Only the door remains, slowly toppling inward to crash massively against the floor)

 **Nihil** : "Amerikanischer SCHWEINHUND! There WAS a door!"

 **Starforce** : "Hey, at least I knocked. What do you *want*?"

 **Nihil** : "Your attention, Herr Hawkins."

(the wind now gusts around the heroes as they see what's in Baron Nihil's now open-air observatory. Two control consoles that would have been at home in Der Riese during World War II curve meticulously between the former entrance and a searingly-bright swirl of purplish-pink lightning that dances chaotically in the room's center. Nihil is standing between the consoles and the energy thing; Nathan struggles against the grip of Nihil's left hand while Laura cries in the grasp of his right arm)

 **Nihil** : "BEHOLD THE SECRET OF SAGUENAY, GENTLEMEN! The dimensional rift that keeps it stabilized against the Nihil-winds of the annihilation dimension itself!"

 **Biomaster** (beat, to Starforce): "Please tell me I was never this melodramatic when I was a supervillain."

 **Nihil** : "SILENCE! NIHIL WILL NOT BE IGNORED!!"

 **Biomaster** : "Good, I have your attention." (beat, points to the consoles) "Scientist to scientist now, Baron, what do your consoles do here?"

 **Nihil** : "They are a product of superior German engineering, mein herr, that allows me to direct and modulate the rift. As I will shortly demonstrate when I erase the THREE OF YOU FROM EXISTENCE..."

(the consoles abruptly power down)

 **Nihil** : "WHAT?!?"

 **Starforce** (telekinetically holding the power coupling he just unplugged): "Superior German engineering my ASS when you can't even protect a simple ELECTRICAL OUTLET."

(he turns his TK off, and the coupling drops to the floor)

 **Starforce** : "Let my children and my companions go, Nihil. Your quarrel is with me."

 **Nihil** : "How chivalrous, Herr Hawkins." (beat) "Just how stupid do you take me to be?"

 **Starforce** : "How superior can the Master Race truly be if it has to hide behind children to keep its ass from getting kicked?"

 **Nihil** : "Superior enough to not be swayed by arguments based on masculinity, mein herr." (beat) "Tell me, Herr Hawkins, are you not in the least bit curious what I intend to do to your children?"

 **David** (to Starforce): "Don't answer him."

 **Nihil** : "I'll tell you anyway. I intend to cast your children into the chaotic deeps of the Annihilation Dimension itself, same as you did to me at Der Riese half a century ago!"

(beat)

 **Starforce** (low and dangerous): "There is no level of Hell so deep that I will NOT find you, you bastard..."

 **Nihil** (interrupting): "And what? HURT ME?" (beat) "I survived pain unendurable for DECADES, you fool! What makes you think you can do any worse to me than you ALREADY HAVE?"

(tense pause, punctuated only by the sobbing of Laura and the incoherent grunts of Nathan still struggling against Nihil's grip)

 **Nihil** (winding up to throw Laura into the rift): "Why don't we start with your lovely daughter, mein herr?"

(Laura's crying becomes a shriek of pure terror as Nihil starts his throw. There is a flare of energy from her)

(David starts to throw a Telekinesis spell. The flare of arcane power from David's hand slows to a crawl and begins to redden the closer it gets to Laura)

(Biomaster shoots a 10d6 BODY Drain at Nihil. He watches it slow to a crawl and redden into invisibility before it comes close to hitting)

(Starforce begins a flash-step. Halfway to Nihil, he snaps back into focus and visibility -- still moving toward his daughter but slowing down as he does so)

(From Biomaster's perspective, all motion around Baron Nihil is slowing down asymptotically. The only things which appear to be still moving at normal speed are Laura -- still screaming as she now starts to fall straight down -- and Nathan, who is now free from Nihil's grasp and toddling as quickly as he can to get under Laura)

(Nathan staggers as he catches Laura)

 **Nathan** (proudly): "Gotcha Rora!"

(Nathan has now overbalanced at the edge of the rift and begins to fall in. Starforce is finally there by now, reaches down in slow motion, and barely manages to grab both Nathan and Laura. His forcefield shuts down, turns back on around both himself and his children, and ripples in super-slow motion as he slowly twists back-first to the rift)

(Nihil freezes in position, stretched out toward the rift and mouth open as Biomaster's Drain finally hits and does 7 BODY. Even the energy swirls that form his body are now motionless)

(David's telekinesis spell finally arrives and wraps itself in a red haze slowly around Starforce+Nathan+Laura. He pulls his arm back to reel them all in from the edge of the rift, and succeeds in doing so JUST as a titanic flare of energy slowly courses vertically through the rift from bottom to top)

(the farther the telekinesis spell pulls Starforce et al away from Nihil, the faster and brighter the spell becomes. Finally, they collide with David at something approaching normal speed for everyone)

 **David** (picking everyone up): "Is everyone OK?"

 **Starforce** : "I think so. Thank you!"

 **Biomaster** (to David): "What. Just. Happened?"

 **David** (slowly): "I'm not sure."

(LONG pause as Starforce kneels and hugs his children tightly. He may be sobbing because of how close he just came to losing them)

 **Laura** (bawling): "Dada? Dada?"

 **Starforce** : "I'm here, kiddo. I'll always be here."

 **Laura** : "Wan' Mama!"

 **Starforce** : "I know. We all do."

 **Nathan** : "Rora make bad man stop!"

 **Starforce** : "I know, Nathan."

 **Nathan** : "Nate-man save Rora!"

 **Starforce** : "You were very brave, Nathan. Daddy's proud of you."

 **Nathan** : "Daddy make bad man go way?"

(Starforce looks at Baron Nihil, still frozen in time)

 **Starforce** (beat): "Nate-man, Uncle Matt needs to look at you and Rora. He needs to make sure the bad man didn't hurt either of you."

 **Nathan** : "Okay."

(Starforce hands Laura to Biomaster as Nathan toddles over next to him. He flash-steps over to Baron Nihil and looks at him intently as he switches through spectral filters in his mask. As David joins him, he has started attempting to move the Baron)

 **Starforce** (absently): "Laura actually stopped the flow of time around him! That is SO wrong just from the standpoint of Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principal *alone*..."

 **David** : "I know. We were there."

 **Starforce** : "Have you ever seen anything like this, Reverend?"

 **David** : "Never in my life."

 **Starforce** : "Hm."

(he stares at Nihil for another moment. A horrible suspicion now dawns with David)

 **David** : "Dr. Hawkins? Please tell me..."

(120 STR TK annihilates the floor on which the time-bubbled Baron Nihil is still standing. An additional full-strength side kick is all it takes to knock the time bubble into the rift. The rift flares, and Nihil vanishes)

 **David** (sternly): "It is God's job to judge Baron Nihil, Dr. Hawkins. NOT yours!"

(tense pause while Starforce looks into the rift)

 **Starforce** : "Yes, but can't I arrange their meeting?"

* * *

(Stately Dormyer Manor Mark II. One second after Rochemont's final demand two scenes ago)

(a pinkish swirl opens underneath the portico. Starforce comes through, holding Laura in his right arm while Nathan toddles along holding his father's left hand. Biomaster and David follow them through before the swirl fades)

 **Ladyhawk** : "Oh my GOD!"

(she runs to Starforce and kisses him fervently before hugging Nathan and taking Laura)

 **Nathan** (to Julie, pointing at the standoff still in progress): "More bad men, Mommy?"

 **Ladyhawk** (hugging Nathan again): "We're about to take care of 'em, honey."

 **Nathan** : "Rora make 'em stop."

 **Starforce** (looking at the standoff): "Tempting, but no." (beat) "Would somebody mind telling me just WHAT the HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!?"

 **Corwin** : "Lieutenant Corwin, DFW PRIMUS detachment. Captain Rochemont has claimed for the past day to have a warrant for your arrest but refuses to produce it to us. He tried a direct assault last night, which we barely arrived in time to prevent."

 **Starforce** (ominously, looking at Rochemont): "Oh, really?"

 **Rochemont** (smugly): "As soon as my reinforcements get here in a minute, you will ALL be in prison with the Son of Zerstoiten as accessories to his plot today!"

(Constable Rendon has walked up to the Mexican Standoff during this speech)

 **Rendon** (to Rochemont): "You mean, the UNTIL platoon the Denton County SWAT team just stopped from crossing the Toll Bridge?"

(Rochemont's jaw drops in shock)

 **Starforce** (beat): "This bullshit ends NOW."

(he flash-steps directly in front of Captain Rochemont. The UNTIL squad trains their pulson rifles on him, only to have 60 STR area-effect TK re-aim the rifles at their own heads with almost contemptuous ease)

 **Starforce** (almost too politely): "What do you think I've been doing the past 18 hours, Captain?"

 **Rochemont** : "That is something I intend to find out during your interrogation."

 **Starforce** : "Do I have no right to rescue my children from a pan-dimensional kidnapping?"

 **Rochemont** (beat): "Do you expect me to believe that story..."

 **Starforce** (grabbing the front of Rochemont's BDU and hoisting him off the ground): "I said, Do I have NO RIGHT to RESCUE MY CHILDREN from a PAN-DIMENSIONAL KIDNAPPING?"

 **Rochemont** : "You staged it..."

 **Starforce** : "Perhaps your helmet's interfering with your hearing."

(he casually grabs Rochemont's helmet with his free hand, rips it roughly off his head, and tosses it behind him. Lt. Corwin watches it easily clear the roof of the Manor eastbound for Lake Lewisville)

 **Starforce** (screaming into Rochemont's exposed ear): "DO I HAVE NO RIGHT TO RESCUE MY CHILDREN FROM A PAN-DIMENSIONAL KIDNAPPING?!?"

 **Rochemont** (ears still ringing): "What are you going to do, son of Zerstoiten? Kill me like your father killed mine?"

 **Starforce** : "Of course not. It's not your time, yet."

(he hears a beeping of a truck backing up somewhere north on Stowe Lane, then remembers it's Garbage day. His smile is positively evil)

 **Starforce** (continuing): "It IS time, however, to take out the trash."

(dragging a now-futilely struggling Rochemont beside him, Starforce stalks up the driveway toward Stowe Lane. The rest of the UNTIL squad, still trapped in his AE TK, follows obediently along behind. He makes a particular point of dragging Rochemont as slowly and as roughly as possible through the widest part of the damage caused by the PRIMUS VTOLs the previous night)

 **Ladyhawk** (to David): "Reverend Kayami, you may wish to teleport your motorcycle directly into Stowe Lane before driving off. That's 30-millimeter shell damage he just dragged Captain Rochemont through."

 **David** (watching the tableau now around the UNTIL APC and too morbidly fascinated to look away): "Thank you for the warning."

 **Lt. Corwin** (smiling, to one of his agents): "Keep filming. If he's gonna do what I think he's gonna do, General Jameson'll LOVE the video!"

(the PRIMUS squad follows Lt. Corwin as he walks off after Starforce, who stops long enough by the UNTIL APC to extend his TK and drag the rest of the UNTIL platoon out of it -- and not too gently at that)

 **Biomaster** (to Julie): "I checked Nathan and Laura before we made the jump back to Earth. They're fine."

 **Ladyhawk** (hugging Biomaster): "Thank you, Matt." (beat, to both David and Biomaster) "We'll set a place for both of you at lunch. I can't thank both of you enough for your help this past day."

 **Biomaster** : "Who's doing the cooking with Shina in the hospital?"

 **Ladyhawk** : "I've got Chinese in the refrigerator."

(he smiles and turns to follow the PRIMUS squad down the driveway)

 **Biomaster** (over his shoulder): "If you'll excuse me until then, Julia, I have to go and loan some of my trash cans to Robert. I expect he's run out by now."

* * *

**EPILOGUE** : PRIMUS HQ, Washington DC. Afternoon, the next day.

(Bob and Julie are sitting in Ted 'Ranger' Jameson's office as he is talking with UNTIL's Director of North American Operations on speakerphone)

 **Ranger** : "Peter, will you PLEASE listen to me? Dr. Hawkins AND HIS WIFE were within their legal rights under local, state, AND federal law to use lethal force against Rochemont and his squad! If you have ANY idea what they are capable of doing as superheroes, *both* of our organizations should be fortunate that they settled for merely stuffing them into trash cans along their street!"

 **Starforce** (whispered): "Head first."

(Julie elbows him and mouths 'Stop it!')

 **Mackenzie** : "While I applaud Dr. Hawkins' restraint, Director Jameson, what he did to our agents was *grossly* inappropriate!"

 **Ranger** : "You want to talk grossly inappropriate behavior? What would you call the behavior of an UNTIL agent who deliberately violates the terms of the Martinez Treaty within a signatory nation? Because that's EXACTLY what my legal counsel has informed me that Rochemont *did* yesterday!" (beat) "Considering the history of UNTIL's relationship with the United States, I believe we *both* know what that means."

 **Mackenzie** (shaken): "Has Captain Rochemont been indicted?"

 **Ranger** : "Not yet, but there is a Federal Grand Jury examining the case as we speak. I have also been informed that Denton County has their Grand Jury on standby, and are more than willing to return indictments against him should no federal charges be filed."

 **Mackenzie** : "Even YOUR federal government wouldn't allow a local jurisdiction to arrest an UNTIL agent!"

 **Ranger** : "My instructions from the President, as of this morning, are to have PRIMUS legal counsel file an amicus curiae brief in support of whichever jurisdiction DOES eventually bring charges against Rochemont."

 **Mackenzie** (beat, shocked): "It wasn't that long ago that your President believed as Captain Rochemont did about Dr. Hawkins."

 **Ranger** : "And look where it got him. A lost Federal Court case and both houses of Congress under Republican control." (beat) "That's a mistake he does NOT want to repeat as he starts his re-election campaign."

 **Mackenzie** : "He would have Rochemont DEPORTED just to get re-elected?"

 **Ranger** : "You've met the man. What do YOU think?"

 **Mackenzie** : "But Rochemont's our most experienced field agent with all things Doctor Destroyer."

 **Ranger** (exasperated): "Doctor Destroyer is DEAD! I was at Detroit, I should know! All Rochemont is doing outside Dormyer Manor is attempting to play Inspector Javert in the delusional hope that arresting Destroyer's son will somehow bring his own father back to life!" (beat) "And don't EVEN get me started on the resources I've had to divert to DFW over the past four years to rein Rochemont in that would have been *better* spent fighting supervillain crime elsewhere!"

(tense pause)

 **Mackenzie** (sighs): "I could recommend his reassignment to the Operation SHIVA team in Geneva. They're running into dead ends trying to locate Destroyer's remaining infrastructure across the world."

 **Ranger** : "Whatever you have to do, Peter. Just *solve* this problem before the American legal system -- or Congress -- does it for you."

 **Mackenzie** : "Director-General Eckhardt won't like it."

 **Ranger** : "He doesn't have to. If he has a problem, he has my number."

 **Mackenzie** (beat): "Good day, General."

(call disconnects. Everyone breathes a huge sigh of relief)

 **Ladyhawk** : "If that's what international diplomacy is like, I never want to have ANYTHING to do with it!"

 **Ranger** : "If Peter's as good as his word, he just cleared up one of my biggest headaches."

 **Starforce** : "Ours, too." (beat) "Do you have any idea how annoying it is to be unable to go shopping for birthday gifts without a squad from UNTIL tailing you looking for the slightest excuse to apprehend you?"

 **Ladyhawk** : "The last time he tried to go to Fry's Electronics in Irving, I thought they were going to cavity-search him!" (beat) "This is supposed to be America, Ted!"

 **Ranger** (looking at Bob intently): "I never heard about that incident."

 **Starforce** : "Because I didn't think it was worth the time or energy to tell you."

 **Ladyhawk** (holding Bob's arm, to Ted): "Blame the manners his step-parents hammered into him as a child. I begged him to, but he thought you had bigger things on your plate as PRIMUS Director."

 **Ranger** : "You're friends and former team-mates. How could you POSSIBLY think that of me?"

(there is a squeal of small children playing from the other side of the main door. Bob and Julie look at each other, grinning sheepishly)

 **Starforce** (hesitatingly, to Ted): "We probably should rescue your Admin staff."

 **Ranger** : "Nah, let Nathan and Laura play some more with them. They're children."

* * *

(fin)


End file.
